This is a fascinating talk between Drs Jared Miracle and Paul Bowman on martial arts. There’s a little section from 31.20 onwards where they get into the miasma that surrounds martial arts and how it can be manipulated for nation building and national identity. the example given is Tae Kwan Do and its need to be ancient. But they go on to talk about how, on a personal level, we often have an idea about what we are doing when we do martial arts that doesn’t necessarily match what we are actually doing or getting out of the martial art we practice.
The Tai Chi Notebook 
Ah, I’m always making this mistake – we are blind to your own errors, which is why the editorial process uses more than one person. I mean, for example, there’s no reason to put a capital letter on “Qi”. 😉
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Except in cases of domestic violence, marital arts would seem quite distinct from martial arts (Graham, you’re a professional editor for Qi’s sake! Don’t let your standards go slack just because it’s your own work …. 😏).
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That’s hilarous Michael! 🙂
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Many, many years ago I was part of a big show of Chinese martial arts in Ottawa and did a bagua demonstration with some of my students. The show was taped and I was eager to get my elderly mother to watch it after the fact. She eventually watched the part of the demonstration put on by Babin & Co. I looked at her expectantly afterwards and her only comment was “I don’t know why you bother doing something that looks so stupid.”
C’est la vie!
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